Houston... We have...

LIFT OFF!!

We've made it and been accepted into the study!

I had my baseline appointment yesterday with ultrasound and blood work. They did the ultrasound first and C told the u/s tech "Don't round her lining up. If it's 4.9, put 4.9 because she needs to be below 5. If she's not, we'll just keep her on Lupron for a few more days."

Okey dokey... I didn't know exactly what that meant, but at least I knew what we were shooting for. So when the u/s tech said "Your lining is good... it's 4." I said "Yay" and did a mini golf clap. Can't be jumpin' around too much when Dildo-Cam is engaged. She then moved on to counting my follicles and said "Oh you have a lot. That's good!"

I've gotta be honest. It's been a while since I've had one of these checks done, and being 40 now, I was a little worried. How were things working in there? My cycles had gotten all kinds of fubar before my Crohn's was diagnosed, back when I had dropped down to 94 lbs. Even though my cycles are back to normal length, I always just wondered. Just because you bleed every month, doesn't mean things are actually doing what they're supposed to be doing. So it was reassuring to hear that everything, u/s-wise, was functioning as it should.

I went 'round the corner and got into line for blood work. The tech was great with that too. I didn't even feel the needle go in, which is saying something. I had blood work done on Monday at Quest to check on my Crohn's and that one burned like a son of a bitch. It's all down to the tech... really. It's a shame too, because the lady at Quest was really nice. I was hoping she'd be awesome, since I have to go in every 2 weeks.

Anyway, after I gave my offering to the vampires, I went to my folks place. If my blood work came back right, I'd have to go back to the clinic to pick up my stims. So I went and visited with them. It's been kinda tough there right now, what with my dad having just been diagnosed with lung cancer, going through radiation and chemo and just last week they had to have their oldest cat put to sleep. So it's been kinda sad and difficult right now, which has kinda stolen some of the joy and excitement from this process, if I'm being honest.

I mean, while they're happy for me and all... they have so much on their plates right now that I feel like they just don't have the mental energy to get excited. In a way, it kinda feels like "Oh that's nice for you, but we have to deal with cancer right now, so yeah..." Not that anyone has said that, but... it's just a feeling I have.

And it doesn't help that we owe my dad a bit of money, which we were totally prepared to pay the balance in full... right up until we found out when we'd be having to write that almost $4000 check. I had to break that to my dad yesterday and he didn't take it well. We'll be able to pay him within 4 weeks, but I think the stress of everything just made it so that all he could hear was that I wasn't paying him back because I needed to spend the money on something else.

He did calm down once he saw how badly I felt about the timing of it all, but I had to leave fairly soon after, because I got the text that all was good with my blood and that I should come back for my meds.

Traffic was a freakin' nightmare, but I got there. C came out with my swag and took me into the office to go over everything. I got an Ivy Study water bottle & pink cooler bag to keep my meds in along with 3 boxes of Gonal-F :^) We went over how to do the shot and the diary that I have to fill out each day for each injection. I have to note the time of the injection, the time I inspected the injection site, I have to put a little sticker from the pen on the page, note any reaction at the injection site, any health changes (side effects or anything different) and any new medication I take (like Tylenol).

I did my first 225 IU Gonal-F shot and also did my Lupron, which has been decreased to 10 IU's. The shots went like a breeze, so that rocked! I filled out the details on the check, got a fresh Lupron kit and was sent on my way to come back the morning of Memorial Day to check how things are going and to give me fresh pens. She said we should be in and out fairly quickly.

So, while it was an exciting day it was also a kinda stressful day, with my dad and all. I was stressed leading up to it, but his reaction made it worse, so when I got a headache on the drive home, I wasn't sure if it was from everything or the meds.

Well, I got another headache not too long after today's shot too... so I'm thinking it's the meds. I took a couple of Tylenol before heading out to dinner with D & my MIL. There's an All You Can Eat seafood dinner every Thursday night, so we went. I thought I heard that there's something about pregnant women not being able to eat shellfish...? So I figure I'd get my fill while I can. My headache seemed to piss off while I was pounding all those crab legs, but seemed to come back a bit after dinner. It's duller than it was, but it's still there. Some of the girls who have been down this road already have said that they might go away after a few days, so here's hoping this isn't going to be "a thing".

I am feeling a bit tired, but I dunno if I can really attribute that to the meds. Our niece had her shots yesterday and wasn't feeling so well today. She's got a stuffy snotty nose, so she had a hard time breathing through her nose when drinking her bottle, which made napping difficult. Since I had a rougher day babysitting than usual, that could be why I'm feeling a bit more tired as well.

We're heading upstate this weekend to spread my SFIL's ashes and mount a plaque on his tree stand. We're leaving first thing Saturday morning and coming back Sunday. Hopefully everything goes smoothly. I know this is gonna be tough for my MIL... firsts are always hard.